


Motel

by lmeden



Series: A Dark Desert Highway [3]
Category: I Am Number Four (2011)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-19
Updated: 2011-04-19
Packaged: 2017-10-18 09:05:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmeden/pseuds/lmeden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They stop at motels to rest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Motel

John is pulling into a fucker of a parking space – the cars on both sides are over the lines, and it’s the only spot left in the motel’s lot – when his iPhone blips. He’s too stressed over the state of the truck and the cars around him - despite Sam’s blithe “Oh don’t worry, it’s my stepdad’s truck and he’s won’t give a shit” - to pick up the message.

He doesn’t pick it up as he squeezes out through the half-opened driver’s door either. He slides the phone from the seat into his pocket with barely a glance at the name on the screen, and worries instead about getting out the right credit card to pay the front desk, and digging out a cap so that the cameras won’t get a good shot of his face. He has Henri’s computer and software, and he could always hack into the motel’s system later to erase what the security cameras have captured, but he’s learned not to take chances. (Especially with an establishment so old and worn that it might not actually have computers, only hard copies of everything.)

He lets Sam get their bags this time. They have only two big duffels stuffed full of t-shirts and jeans and dirty boxers just waiting to be washed in a bathroom sink. As he finishes paying and nods to the owner, he hears Six pull into the parking lot, the sound of her bike vibrating through the thin walls. John can’t help but wonder what the neighbors will think about he and Sam – he booked a single room for them, and doesn’t intend to sleep, no matter how absolutely exhausted he is.

Six’s motor slows to a deep purr for a moment before roaring and dying off in the distance. She probably couldn’t find a place to park, and will spend the night somewhere else. He puts her out of his mind and heads for Room 21.

The bags are sitting on the curb at Sam’s feet and Sam is leaning on the hood of the truck, tapping his fingers to a rhythm John doesn’t recognize. He holds the keys up and jingles them – Sam turns.

“What number this time?” he asks as he heaves the bags up, one over each shoulder.

“Twenty-one.”

“Ha!” Sam barks. “Still older than us both. Think we’ll ever get a number lower than our age?”

“We’ve stayed in like…only five motels so far. I’m sure we’ll find one,” John says, smiling. He lifts one of the bags off Sam’s shoulder and reaches for the other.

“Oh, come on,” Sam groans, “I can---“

“So can I.” John cuts through him and tossed the keys over. Sam misses and they skid under a car. He hisses and dives for them, and by the time he stands up again, John is leaning against the door to Room 21, casual.

Sam glares and shoves the key into the lock. He pushes into the stuffy room and says, “I didn’t appreciate that, thanks,” before flopping down on the wide bed in a sulk.

John kick the door closed behind him and Sam props himself up on his elbows, looking around the room. “And you can do the washing.” He jumps up and seizes the remote from the top of the bed and points it at the tv, at least ten years out of date. It flickers on.

Sam glances back at him. “Well, better get on that soon or everything’ll still be wet in the morn---“

His words break off and dissolve into laughter as John strides over to the bed and pins him, hands on his arms and mouth at his neck. He throws the remote to the floor and it cracks apart; he pulls John down and turns, twisting, to kiss him.

\--

The next morning, listening to Sam’s grumbling in the bathroom as he tries to wash clothes in the sink, John leans over to the bedside table and picks up his phone. Its screen glows, eerily like his palms, as he unlocks it and pulls up the message.

  


_  
Sarah_

_How are you?  
Found anything?  
_


End file.
